World News - 31 Still Inside Siberian Mine After Fire Breaks Out Underground; 2 Have Reached the Surface

A fire broke out Thursday in a gold and metals mine in Siberia, and more than 30 miners were still inside either fighting the blaze or struggling to evacuate through long underground tunnels, emergency officials said. The blaze broke out at a depth of between 280 feet and 430 feet in the Darasun mine in the Chita region, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Stadnikova. Of the 64 miners working in the shaft at the time of the blaze, 31 already had been evacuated, said Gennady Savelyev, a spokesman for the ministry's regional branch. Thirteen others were working underground to extinguish the blaze and 20 were being evacuated along a three-mile tunnel, he said. "Authorities are maintaining communications with the miners, and all are in normal condition," Savelyev said. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Text of the remarks made by Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday at the Quinton Kynaston School in St. John's Wood, London. The first thing I would like to do is to apologize, actually, on behalf of the Labour Party for the last week, which with everything that is going on back here and in the world, has not been our finest hour to be frank. But I am not going to set a precise date now. I don't think that's right. I will do that at a future date and I'll do it in the interests of the country and depending on the circumstances of the time. But I think what is important now is that we understand that it's the interests of the country that come first and we move on. Now, as for my timing and date of departure, I would have preferred to do this in my own way, but as has been pretty obvious from what many of my Cabinet colleagues have said earlier in the week, the next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last party conference as party leader, ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2405070

Staunch U.S. supporter Australia on Thursday backed Washington's use of secret CIA prisons overseas to interrogate terrorist suspects, but Muslim critics in Asia said the U.S. leader's defense of the practice amounted to a tacit approval of torture. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia, whose government has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq and mirrored some of Washington's tough legislative response to terror threats, outlined what he said were some of the benefits of the secret prison system.He said information from one secret prison detainee had led to the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Riduan Isamuddin, a key leader of Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. The two formed a link between the two terrorist organizations, Downer said....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212679,00.html

Chinese police have detained a prominent human rights activist and Aids campaigner who has fought several high-profile cases. More than 20 plain clothed policemen took Hu Jia from his home in Beijing, according to his wife, Zeng Jinyan. Mr Hu, 33, was said to be collecting data on the detention of activists and has been under house arrest since July. Ms Zeng said she believed the arrest was part of a wider crackdown on rights campaigners. Last month, Chen Guangcheng, who had campaigned against forced sterilisation and abortion, was jailed for public order offences. His lawyers were detained ahead of his trial. Gao Zhisheng, a well-known lawyer who represented members of the banned Falun Gong group and villagers who accused local officials of stealing their land, was also detained last month. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5323238.stm

Some moms and dads might want to take a lesson from their kids: Just say no. The government reported Thur that 4.4% of baby boomers ages 50 to 59 indicated that they had used illicit drugs in the past month. It marks the third consecutive yearly increase recorded for that age group by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Meanwhile, illicit drug use among young teens went down for the third consecutive year — from 11.6% in 2002 to 9.9% in 2005. "Rarely have we seen a story like this where this is such an obvious contrast as one generation goes off stage right, & entering stage left is a generation that learned a lesson somehow & they're doing something very different," said David Murray, special assistant to the director for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The annual survey on drug use & health involves interviews of about 67,500 people. It provides an important snapshot of how many Americans drink, smoke and use drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine...http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-07-drug-use-report_x.htm?csp=34

A miniseries about the events leading to the Sept. 11 attacks is "terribly wrong" and ABC should correct it or not air it, former Clinton administration officials demanded in letters to the head of ABC's parent company. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Clinton Foundation head Bruce Lindsey and Clinton adviser Douglas Band all wrote in the past week to Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., to express concern over "The Path to 9/11." The two-part miniseries, scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday and Monday, is drawn from interviews and documents including the report of the Sept. 11 commission. ABC has described it as a "dramatization" as opposed to a documentary. Kind of makes you want to watch it just to see what the Slime Ball and his accomplices are trying to cover-up...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2405076